


Hawkeye's Bow

by hawkeyesbishop (theholytrickster)



Series: Hawkeye Evolution [1]
Category: Marvel, Young Avengers
Genre: Billy and Tommy are mentioned but like not in it, Gen, Just a sad abt kate and how she felt inferior to the "real" hawkeye in the past, ik this isn't really how it went but idc, not edited bc when do i ever edit anything i write tbh
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-27
Updated: 2016-04-27
Packaged: 2018-06-04 19:24:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 805
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6672436
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theholytrickster/pseuds/hawkeyesbishop
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The draw weight is all wrong, on Hawkeye’s bow.</p><p>It’s her bow now, Kate realizes, but that’s only because Hawkeye is dead and Captain America liked her moxie, so she still counts it as his.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The draw weight is all wrong, on Hawkeye’s bow.

It’s her bow now, Kate realizes, but that’s only because Hawkeye is dead and Captain America liked her moxie, so she still counts it as his. She’s always admired Hawkeye, even when she wasn’t into archery. He was just a normal guy, going up against aliens and robots and a whole ton of weird shit and he won. It’s hard to not admire him after everything he’s done. Did.

So she tries to take care of the bow as best she can, because it was his and it’s a pretty nice bow anyway. She cleans it and restrings it and makes sure that whatever gross alien slime gets on it doesn’t eat at it, even though he probably wouldn’t have cared. She does, though.

The only problem with the bow, the bow that was his, is that the draw weight is too heavy. She’s not strong enough to pull back on it and shoot without straining her shoulder, but it would be like admitting defeat to not use it. So, she strains her shoulder, almost every day, and suffers for it. Her draw gets awkward, stiff, even if she’s using a different bow, and she curses herself every day for actually using the damn thing and not just hanging it up on the wall and caressing it every now and then.

Which she totally does anyway.

It’s a wicked bow. Which is exactly why she wants to use it. She’s Hawkeye now, and if she can’t even use his old bow, then it almost feels like she shouldn’t be Hawkeye. It almost always feels like she shouldn’t be Hawkeye, even when she makes a perfect shot.

Then, Clint Barton comes back from the dead. Or the un-dead, or just from wherever he went on vacation. He challenges her for the bow, and the title, and she knows she’s not going to win, but she accepts anyway.

They both try the trick shot, and she fails like she knew she would. She feels a hot rush of shame as he studies her form, while she hands over the bow. 

He pulls the string back so easily, effortlessly, and makes the shot, like he knew he could. 

She leaves without her bow, his bow, and the title of “Hawkeye,” and she’s almost glad. Almost.

She may cry over the phone to Billy, and Tommy threatens to steal the bow back for her, but she’s fine. With defeat and her father’s money she shouldn’t spend, she buys a new bow.

They make it for her, it takes three weeks, and when she holds it for the first time and pulls back, it’s as effortless as Hawkeye’s bow, with the true owner wielding it.


	2. aw man two seconds later i'm back w another

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint's pov of the last chapter, kind of

Clint knows what it looks like to use a bow that isn’t right for you. 

In the circus, he had to use a bow meant for an adult when he started training, and they made him shoot hundreds of arrows per day to get the proper amount of strength behind it. 

So when Hawkeye - and it’s still weird that Cap gave her his name, even if he thought Clint was dead - tries to do the robin hood shot, he can tell she’s been trying, but he can still tell that the bow isn’t right for her.

He does the shot and takes back the bow that’s been hurting her, and he knows because he’s felt the shoulder pain that comes from it. It’s a struggle to not feel bad, though, when she looks so pained, so defeated by the loss of the bow.

He also kind of just wanted the bow back, but he feels shitty now.

It’ll be better this way, he knows, and Kate probably has enough money to buy a thousand bows better than this one.

He stays in the range for hours after that, getting used to the bow that he left behind.

 

Somehow, in a weird turn of events, he starts spending a lot of free time with Kate. 

First she babysits him after he got injured, bringing him nasty pumpkin coffee (Kate rolls her eyes and says she knows it’s his favorite, and she’s right, of course) and making horrible jokes at his expense.

He likes it, likes her. After that, he sometimes shows up at her apartment, or she shows up at his, and they eat pizza and watch Dog Cops. She makes fun of him when he deserves it, and is surprisingly gentle when he’s sad, and she kind of reminds him of a baby Natasha. 

She has a new bow, by the time they’re called out on a mission together, and when he sees how good she is with it, and how it’s not straining her shoulder, he grins.

They get gross pumpkin coffee, when they’re done.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In the same night, i am convinced to write more, mainly because i love them

**Author's Note:**

> tbh there will probably be more. You don't even have to ask (if anyone reads this and wants more)


End file.
